Crystallizing Time: Dosha Dressing at The Met Gala
Hearing the 2024 Met Gala theme, The Garden of Time, conjured an image of Anna Wintour, Andrew Bolton and husband Thom Browne around a Norman Rockwell dinner table. Wintour’s son, the doctor Charles, joins them for measured discourse. Contemplating, but not gossiping about Kim Kardashian’s dystopian antic at the 2023 gala. She reportedly ruined Marilyn Monroe’s dress- beads missing, threads loosened and a fabric torn.
Brainstorming future preventatives over endive salads, the well-read and curious Bolton recalls the JG Ballard story of the same name.
This year’s theme stems from Ballard’s tale about a royal couple who expends their garden to fend off a public takeover. As each crystalline flower is cut from its goblet stem, time slows. The ephemeral character of beauty and nature cannot be replenished by regrowth. The deceleration of time prevents the flowers from growing back fast enough. The process is unsustainable. A once beautiful sanctuary turns into a gray graveyard.
Seasons have the power to burgeon and extirpate nature. Technology and sustainability are the driving forces behind diminishing artisanal fashion. Le Jardin (1882) by Berthe Morisot and Symphony of Green and Gold (1900) by Thomas Wilmer Dewing serve as inspirations for this year’s Met Gala theme The Garden of Time.
Life cycles through creation and destruction. Extraordinary garments are considered works of art due to factors including materials, methods and possessors. We will never again see an Alexander McQueen original. Ms. Monroe will never again grace her iconic dress with her nonpareil figure and fragile nature. Authentic Banarasi gold-embroidered hand-loomed silk saris are increasingly rare because modernization has made it a fading craft.
The Gala has become a costume carnival and less refined. Numerous attendees have indulgently prolonged The Camp concept. This year’s theme hopefully elucidates a return to elegance. The exhibit garments are categorized by Land, Sea and Sky. These sub-themes make Dosha Dressing apropos for The Garden of Time, at the Met or at home.
This year’s Met Gala theme The Garden of Time can be taken literally or find inspiration in nature’s creations. Karen Elson as a sullen flower girl, Karlie Kloss rose-adorned in a lush garden, and Julia Stenger as a desert oasis photographed by Alexi Lubomirski as seen in Decade.
The $cience
A key concept in Ballards story is the crystalline flowers. Crystalline structures form table salt, snowflakes and diamonds in highly ordered atomic arrangements. Rosalind Franklin crystallized DNA, froze it in time, to determine the origins of our nature. The other point of significance is the goblet structure of the flower stems. Goblet cells form mucin, which is produced in tears and also provides protection by creating mucous.
The roses on Alexander McQueen’s Bleeding and Tudor Rose gowns articulate the literal theme of the gala. Not so obvious is the use of dyes and embroidery that will not prosper in the future due to sustainability constraints.
Color derived from nature tells its own tale of emotion. The Earthy browns, the sky blues and rose reds or deep sunset oranges. Monochromatic looks for the gala speak to the theme and to the doshic constitutions. Kapha has fragile emotions and sits close to the Earth. Vata has fleeting memory and soars toward the sky. Pitta is strong as the sea.
Land
Kapha embraces the Earth, its dark chocolate soil, sloping green mountains, and the deep blues of its oceans. These looks will have this composed and ingenuous dosha dancing the night away at the gala. Or her living room. An artisanal lehenga from Anita Dongre reflects the beauty of Ruben’s Venus. The handpainted silk Unami cream lehenga is an expression of withering craftsmanship. Loewe’s bustier dress is a deep chocolate like rich soil and embodies slants of fissured alps. An abstract ombré dress by Oscar de la Renta combines a vibrant earthy and oceanic feel to keep this dosha where she is happiest… rooted.
Sea
Pitta penetrates like the heat of the Sun. Rich blues of the sea mesmerize anyone who comes into contact with her. Silvers add a twinkle to her sharp eyes. A silver Tom Ford dress evokes a Ballardian feel. Its structure and color evocative of NYC’s sinking skyline under the weight of the concrete jungle. Schiaparelli’s electric blue mermaid dress in velvet is tailor-made for Pitta. The cooling ocean blue, the vibrant red peeking through as a reminder of her fierceness, and soft velvet to soften her sharp edges. Have a homegirl party in Staud’s floral gown in a pastel organza.
Sky
Vata is as delicate as air, its affecting winds and tranquil pastels. Natural waters keep them from flying away into chaos. The sea coral-like embroidered collar on Tom Ford’s halterneck dress flows like the deep. For a more vibrant expression of Vata’s creativity, Oscar de la Renta’s draped flora and fauna chiffon gown in neon yellow befits a celebration of every garden. Cinq à Sept’s short jacket dress embellished with flowers is a perfect watch-party look or a visit to the exhibit.
The Met Gala will take place May 6, 2024 at the Met Museum in NYC. You are not invited.